In this season of giving thanks, I would like to express my gratitude to the Student Services staff for all you have done to assist students during this extremely busy (and productive) fall semester! Your dedication to the students is what makes HCC such a special place to learn and work. I hope you will make time over the Thanksgiving break to reconnect with family and friends, reflect on your blessings and remember those who make our lives special.
~ Dr. Ken Ray, Jr.

New Addition to Student Services & Enrollment Management

Please join me in welcoming Mr. Ailbe Astor, HCC’s new Veteran Student Affairs Coordinator who will provide district-wide coordination of Veteran Student Affairs. Ailbe has worked at HCC for over 10 years and has served the veteran population the past six years in Admissions, Records, and Registration, most recently at the Plant City Campus as the Supervisor and Certifying Official. Ailbe is a graduate of HCC, as well as Saint Leo University where he received a degree in Management. Ailbe also served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an Inspector, where he investigated congressional inquiries and conducted operational inspections.

Effective November 13, 2012, Ailbe will begin his new position, however he will remain at the Plant City Campus to assist through the peak registration period (January 11, 2013). Ailbe's office will then be located at the Collaboration Studio in order to work closely with ARR and Financial Aid.

Registrar's Message

Graduation deadlines are officially a thing of the past. The HCC Graduation Office processes graduates monthly. Students are recommended to apply for graduation prior to completing their degree requirements. Students are notified by Hawknet when (1) they have met graduation requirements (whether they have applied or not), (2) they applied but do not meet the requirements, (3) the diploma is mailed. The diploma is mailed to the address in the HCC database. Students should submit an address change prior to the diploma being mailed. These changes should be submitted at graduation@hccfl.edu. The Graduation Office received over 90 address changes for summer graduates, saving $450 and countless hours in processing time.

Privacy Please... New FERPA Training for All

PDWS is offering online FERPA training to HCC employees. The training contains a questionnaire to assess your FERPA aptitude along with case studies and resolutions to actual events that take place in the education arena. Participants will be awarded a certificate on completion of the quiz. To access the FERPA training follow these steps: (1) Go to http://www.hccvirtual.com/, (2) Login using your NETID (username and password you use every day to login to your computer), (3) Click the "Online Training" icon. Please make time in your schedule to complete this important training.

Diplomas

Several diploma initiatives are coming to fruition. Because of our work with The Scrip-Safe company we eliminated the manual processing of diplomas. Diplomas are now produced via Web interface, "the cloud" that allows us to produce "Diplomas on Demand" anywhere, anytime, on any printer. This allowsthe graduation office to save time and produce diplomas more efficiently and accurately. Also, thisoffers us the option in the event of mechanical issues to print on any HCC printer through our vendor Scrip-Safe, without any additional cost. The fall 2012 graduate diplomas will be printed using this software.

The Financial Aid Office identified 1,583 students who applied for admission for the spring 2013 semester. These students have completed a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), but have documents missing to complete their files. In an effort to reach out to these students so their financial aid can be processed for the January 3rd payment deadline, a postcard was mailed to them alerting them of the payment deadline and November 1st priority awarding deadline. These students also received an automated phone call alerting them of the deadlines and reminding them to check WebAdvisor to view missing documents needed to complete their financial aid files.